


Meta Epidemic with Surprises

by Yuffyka



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Can’t Really Place It at a Certain time in the series, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, I Had Fun With Fake Science, M/M, Meta Virus, Multi, Oh there will be some sooner too..., Uncontrollable Powers, Virus Activated Powers, len becomes a meta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-09-13 03:02:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16884423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuffyka/pseuds/Yuffyka
Summary: Sooo... I had this idea a while ago and I prompted it in the gift exchange but it didn’t get written. I didn’t have a fully formed idea back then but now I have so I’m writing it!There is a virus that only attacks metas and of course Team Flash transforms the labs to a makeshift hospital to help. It goes well for a bit but then things turn bad when Barry catches it and even his boosted immune system can’t fight it properly. Then as the cherry on top there’s a surprise person brought to them in a very bad state.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I can’t really place it in time... Wally doesn’t have powers. Legends happened but they just came back after defeating Savage. No HR but there’s Gypsy (I mean you can pretend HR is on vacation on Bali or something I just can’t write him)  
> If you have questions you can ask but I won’t try to stick to the original order of events... I’ll try to keep it clear though.

It all started with one single patient and a great amount of luck.

The patient was a young girl, called Amy White. She was a high school student and a meta. She kept her abilities secret because she was scared of being bullied. Her power was simple and easy to keep secret; she had the ability to roll back time with a few seconds or a few minutes if she concentrated enough, but not more. She really enjoyed it because in school if she had to answer to a teacher she could just wind back time and say the sentence that was corrected by the teacher so she knew the perfect answer. She also used it to manage conflicts sometimes by understanding the other’s motivations and preventing further hurt, but sometimes she was more selfish and used it to have perfect comebacks at other students. She both fixed her grades and got quite popular after using her powers for a while. Everything was like a dream for her.

Until she felt a bit ill. It started with a slight fever, a sore throat and some itchy rash on her wrists. Then all the symptoms got more serious and she was taken to the hospital with febrile seizures. The doctors at the hospital couldn’t really help her because none of the tests could find out what caused her symptoms. All they could do was trying to keep her fever under control sometimes with medication but quite often with icepacks and cooling blankets.

The luck part was that Caitlin part-timed at the hospital, so she could use their equipment and some of their data for her research and she came across Amy’s results. She took some of the girl’s blood and tested it for the meta gene. She found the meta gene and some kind of DNA fragment attached to it, that she couldn’t identify even using PCR. Then she took some other samples and ran some more tests to figure out more than the fact that the thing – probably virus – left DNA based genetic material.

Then some other patients were brought to the hospital all of whom has been at Amy’s school in the past few weeks. You could never be certain, but Caitlin thought Amy was probably patient zero, so she went to talk to her.

Caitlin soon found out about her abilities and that she hadn’t told her parents about it. First, because she was scared they would be angry, or they would treat her like she was sick, then they were so proud of her results getting better that she didn’t have the heart to tell them she was cheating. Caitlin got to the conclusion that her ability might have interfered with the mutation of a virus and it resulted in an entirely new structure that could attack the meta gene in someone’s cells.

“This is my fault, right?” Amy asked filled with guilt and she forced herself to hold back her tears. “I used my powers too much and I created a super parasite that now attacks everyone…”

“First of all, it doesn’t attack everyone, only metahumans.” Caitlin started to explain but soon had to realize that that sentence wasn’t helping at all. “I mean it’s not your fault. If anyone can be blamed, it’s me and my co-workers from STAR labs. We created meta-humans.” She tried to be supportive, but she has always been better at the scientific part of her field than at interaction with her patients.

“What do I do now?” Amy asked eager to somehow help, as she still felt responsible.

“You concentrate on healing.” Caitlin said firmly wanting her to only do that.

“But I wanna help! I mean you need samples, right? I can give you any type of sample or tell you everything I did… please, let me do something!” She was desperate under the crashing weight of guilt.

Caitlin started to think because she was right, they needed samples, they needed to know what happened and they needed to find a cure before someone had suffered permanent damage.

“First of all, for that we need to move you to STAR labs, as well as all the patients. We need permissions from the patients and your parents. You have to tell them the truth.” Caitlin said decisively. She already talked to Barry about that and he agreed that they needed to do something. Barry and Cisco were already working on the changes at STAR labs to accommodate to the arriving patients and their treatment.

“What truth does she have to tell us?” Amy’s mother asked when both her parents came back from the cafeteria. They both looked at Caitlin like they were about to attack her if she hurt their child.

Caitlin stood up immediately and held out her hand for them.

“I’m Dr. Caitlin Snow. My research is connected to the possible cause of her sickness. I already talked to the hospital leadership and almost everything is arranged, but before all that, Amy has something to tell you, please don’t be mad at her.” She sidestepped to let the worrying parents get to their child.

“What is this all about, honey?” Amy’s mother held her hand in her free one, while his father handed her a cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon.

“I…” She was very nervous, but the warm cocoa calmed her a bit. “I’m a meta…” her long held tears started to slip out and run down her face. “I can wind back time a few seconds and change what I said or did… that’s why my grades got better… I wanted to tell you, I swear I… but you were so happy and…” she broke down to just sobbing. She didn’t know what to say and now she couldn’t really talk either.

“Oh, baby girl, I’m so proud of you!” Amy’s father leaned to her to kiss her forehead and hugged her with his coffee free arm.

“But… But I cheated and lied to you…” She sniffed.

“And you think I never lied to my parents? Or that I never cheated in school?” He was smiling proudly. “You used your power to make us proud, you never hurt anyone… I couldn’t be prouder of you! Everyone uses what they have to get themselves forward and I’m happy you have something to help you stand your ground! And come on how cool is that?” He was grinning and proud.

Her mother on the other hand had a different opinion.

“Why are you encouraging her to cheat? She should be working hard to get what she wants!” she wasn’t yelling, but she had an air of authority.

“And what? Just accept that others are using her, stepping on her when she has an advantage? Come on you know it took me ten years to get into the position I’m in right now, because of stupid mistakes, if I could just take them back like she can we could have bought the dream home we want years ago. We could have given her the best possible education. We can send her to university because of her results now. If she uses it well, she can have a great life and our job is to help her with that.” Also, he was quite excited about his daughter having superpowers. It was awesome.

“What about others who doesn’t have an advantage? She should just step over them?” She worked hard in her whole life to get where she is. She always thought that hard work earned you a good life. She couldn’t accept that her daughter was cheating. She needed the sense of accomplishment to feel that she deserved what she got and she raised her daughter through that vision.

“You mean those who bullied her for having braces?” He raised his eyebrow.

“You cant be serious!” She huffed and stood up to leave. She would come back later to talk to them. She would leave and come back again and again until they agreed.

“Excuse me!” Caitlin called out. “I think you should teach her to use it well, instead of just denying it from her… but right now its not important.” She stepped forward and even though she was angry, Amy’s mother sat back down, because Caitlin was a doctor and her daughter was sick.

“What’s going on?” she asked finally.

“I still work at STAR labs and we research the meta gene. I checked a lot of things in her blood and the results prove that the parasite which is probably a DNA virus, but I don’t have proof yet, attaches to the meta gene and that’s how its activated. It means only metahumans can get sick. I talked to the leaders of the hospital and we would like to set up a research team at STAR labs. We want to transfer all the patients there, we have all the equipment needed there and we know more than anyone else about meta-humans. We would like to take some more samples to figure out what’s behind it, and find a cure.” She tried not to sound excited about the research. “Also, some medication affects metas differently and I think I can create something for her that would be effective against her fever.”

“Does that mean no more ice?” Amy asked hopefully.

“Yes.” Caitlin smiled, she was pretty sure that if she could make something for Barry she could make something for her too.

“And how much will that cost us? The hospital bills are already quite expensive… this special treatment…” Her father started doubtfully. He wanted to give everything to his daughter, but he didn’t have much saved up money.

“It’s going to be completely free. Since Dr. Wells died he left everything including STAR labs to a friend of mine and he wants to use it for good.

“I want it written on paper, signed by your friend.” He decided. Surprise costs could ruin their family.

“I’ll have it in an hour.” Caitlin smiled, and they said their temporary goodbyes until they would be transferred to STAR labs.

Caitlin went to talk to the other patients. They all agreed except for one old man who didn’t want to leave the trusty hospital. A few hours later the six patients were on their way to STAR labs.

 

At STAR labs Barry and Cisco modified the training room to a hospital room. They placed beds all around and separated them with thin plasterboards for privacy, but the rooms were open so if they needed help they could get it quickly. It wasn’t as ideal as if they could get their own rooms which they considered using the pipelines for, but because for now Caitlin was their only meta doctor and she wasn’t as fast as Barry it wasn’t an option.

They helped the arriving patients and families settle in their ‘rooms’ and showed them around enough not to get lost on their way in and out. Also, they separated the cortex enough that they couldn’t get there so Barry could keep his secret identity. He had to meet them as Barry Allen because almost anyone could find out the name of the owner of STAR labs and if they told them the Flash owned it, that would be easy to put together. So, he helped around as Barry Allen CSI and lab owner. Nobody really cared though about who he was any further than being grateful for his help.

They let everyone rest after the move.

The next day had been chaos because still, Caitlin was the only one who could take care of the patients properly, so Barry’s help wasn’t very much, and Cisco couldn’t even help because they didn’t want him to catch whatever this was. They trusted Barry’s boosted immune system to fight through it though.

In the meantime, Felicity checked the background of all the doctors in the nearby hospitals for ones that were trustworthy enough to work with them with the possibility of finding out Barry’s secret.

After the second and third days it was getting better. Everyone knew now what they were doing, and it went better. Caitlin could finally work on the virus properly.

Two more days and they were getting closer to figuring out what it was. So far, they figured it was a virus and that it stayed in an inactive form when it got into a human system as long as it didn’t meet with the meta gene. When it contacted the meta gene it worked like a receptor for them and caused some changes in their conformation and a small part broke off and stuck to the meta gene. It both activated the virus and made the gene a bit more unstable.

Making the gene unstable usually meant that when they tried to use their powers they couldn’t control them properly. A few times it meant that their powers activated against their will. A man occasionally levitated above his bed unable to get back down, a woman’s hands kept lighting up like a lightbulb, another guy who had night vision sometimes lost his vision. It was a mess again.

Then came the worst part when Barry started to feel weak. It all went a lot faster with him. He had a slight fever with the slighter symptoms for about ten minutes then he was burning up. He kept vibrating and the rashes on his wrists formed red tendril-like lines on his forearm. The only other person in a similar stage was Amy and the elderly man who stayed in the hospital.

Now that Barry had them too Caitlin cut out samples from the red lines and checked them under her microscope with different dyes.

“It’s like a cancerous lesion but it doesn’t seem to grow uncontrollably and doesn’t require that much energy. It doesn’t induce angiogenesis and doesn’t seem to infiltrate anything under the epidermis.” Caitlin explained when they were together in the cortex.

All Caitlin, Cisco, Joe, Iris and Wally were there around Barry’s bed.

“Do you have any idea how to treat it?” Barry asked trying to keep the vibrations of his vocal chords under control.

They had to do something. Despite they tried their best not to spread the virus any further they had twenty new patients since they brought them to STAR labs. Some of their uncontrollable powers were threatening to destroy the labs. They put those who had dangerous powers down in the pipeline. Their powers were dampened there so they couldn’t harm anyone not even themselves. This time though they asked them before, and made sure they knew what they were up to and this was for their ow good. They had access to the locks from the inside so they could get out any time they wanted.

“I have a few but I’m not sure how to test it… I’ve tried to test some mixes on the blood samples and most of them killed the viruses in the samples, but they fell apart and created an osmotically more active plasma and the red blood cells does not have high enough osmotic resistance. Ninety percent of the red blood cells in the samples became irreversibly deformed and useless. If it happens in a human body that is certain death. I’ve tried to keep the osmotic pressure level by adding less active iv fluids but it’s hard even in a sample, the human body is infinitely more complicated.” Caitlin was tired and visibly stressing over her helplessness.

“We could start with a really small amount. I think my regeneration is intact enough to keep up with the cell loss up to a certain level…” Barry said seriously.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea… we can’t risk hurting or possibly killing you like that.” Joe interrupted.

“I know you’re worried, but we don’t really have a choice. We’re lucky no one died yet, but such high fever can be very dangerous.” Barry reasoned.

Cisco’s cell buzzed, and Caitlin’s started to ring. She took it and left the room for privacy. She came back a few minutes later with a devastated expression.

“We aren’t so lucky anymore.” She said quietly. “The elderly man who stayed at the hospital, died.”

Joe froze, his insides went haywire, his son was yet again in deadly danger and he couldn’t do anything. Iris gasped and put her hands over her mouth. Wally put his arms around himself, he just recently discovered that his foster brother was the Flash who he honestly admired and now his hero was in danger.

Cisco was both shocked by the message on his phone and what he heard. The message was from Lisa Snart begging for his help. It was about the tenth message by now, but he kept ignoring it because they had more serious issues and she wouldn’t tell in her messages what it was about. He ignored it again and muted his phone completely.

“How did it happen?” Barry asked managing to keep his voice even.

“His constant remittent fever suddenly dropped below the normal yesterday, then his powers were completely uncontrollable, he could become invisible, then his fever started to slowly rise back, and he complained about serious pain in his whole body and he said the lines on his wrists felt like they were burning into his skin. They aren’t sure yet what was the direct cause of death.” Caitlin explained. “I’ll go to the hospital for his dissection to find out as much as we can.” Her phone started ringing again and it was the calling button from Amy’s room.

She went to check on her.

“This is getting scarier every minute.” Wally said not able to hold back. Iris went and hugged him. She was scared too.

Joe was conflicted about whether he should go to his healthy kids and give them reassurance, or he should try to reassure Barry. Though to be honest Barry was the calmest of them all.

“We’re going to figure something out.” Barry said confidently. “Maybe we could try to give Caitlin’s cocktail of medicine to the man and try to keep his plasma osmotic pressure under control to have an idea how to do it, or check if any of our immune systems started producing antibodies or…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because Caitlin retuned, and she was alarmingly pale.

“Amy’s fever also dropped.” She said quietly.

“Take my blood and look for antibodies!” Barry took the leading position because Caitlin was close to crashing under the pressure. She was an amazing doctor, but she was human, over thirty patients for one lead doctor was way too many and the two other doctors who came by to help sometimes didn’t take responsibility, saying it wasn’t the equipment they knew and were used to. All the responsibility was resting on Caitlin and she stood her ground alone already too long. “Then give me a cocktail of what you have and we’ll look for any changes.”

“Barry… dead blood cells can do a lot more damage than just hypoxia… and those you can’t fix by producing more of them… iron and hemoglobin can damage your kidneys, your liver would be flooded by bilirubin, you’d have icterus and I have no idea how your immune system would react to that and…”

“Caitlin!” Barry called out firmly. “I made a decision. Look, I know it’s dangerous, but this virus is also dangerous. If we do nothing all of us die including me. It’s obvious my healing cannot protect me this time…”

“Barry…” Caitlin whisper-whined tiredly.

“Just do it!” Barry said a little louder but not angry or yelling. “I promise it’s gonna be okay.” He smiled reassuringly even though he knew that Caitlin knew better than any of them how serious this was.

“Okay.” she nodded finally and started working.

She took the blood and waited a bit so Barry’s body could react to the loss then started making the antidoteish mix she used before. She took about a milliliter and diluted it in saline solution. She took some of it into a syringe and one to four diluted it even more. She shook it together and was about to inject it into Barry’s vein when the backdoor alarm went off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The not exactly surprise (I already spoilered) surprise visitor...

They now had cameras and an alarm at the back door to try and prevent random villains from walking in and out so easily. They turned on the camera to see Lisa Snart waving and yelling at them, so they turned on the microphone.

“Damn it, Cisco why can’t you just answer the damn call?!” She yelled, and an angry looking gruff Mick Rory took a few steps closer behind her, he was about to break the damn door.

“Call?” Barry asked looking at Cisco who nervously took his cell from his pocket and gave it to Barry. Barry read the messages – all forty-seven of them – last of which said she was coming to STAR labs and looked at the fifteen missed calls with raised eyebrows. This must be serious. “Open the door!”

“What?” Most of them blinked surprised at him.

“Barry are you insane?!” Joe yelled. Barry groaned at the yelling because it hurt his head that was already sore from the fever and sore throat. He would have run out to check out what was going on if he hadn’t felt so damn weak.

“She’s even more freaked out when there was a bomb in her neck. Something’s wrong.” Barry explained trying to get up to disable the electric lock on the door.

“Yeah, but we have a lot of problems without them right now.” Cisco cut in. He was constantly torn between Gypsy and Lisa and the two women kept coming to him. And he kept making mistakes that hurt both of them. Caitlin called him a jerk for things he did about twice a week.

Gypsy kept pretending to be a cold bounty hunter who didn’t need a guy in her life, then after some revelations she went with the story of not wanting a relationship after what happened. Then sometimes she went on dates with Cisco. She liked him and wanted them to be a thing, but she wasn’t sure how committed she was ready to be. Except when Cisco went out with Lisa, after not seeing Gypsy for over a month - he also tried to vibe her but she easily blocked him and so he half gave up on her - and wanted to move on with Lisa, she came back and told him it wasn’t enough commitment from him for her.

In the meantime, Lisa acted like she was head over heels for him and she would do anything to be with him. She was there any time Cisco felt alone and spent time with him. But she lied to him before and betrayed him before, so he could never be sure if she wasn’t just acting up.

She wasn’t but he didn’t know that. She was so caught up in her feelings, she didn’t mind that he kept choosing Gypsy over her. She was always second in line, but she was blinded by love. She never had good experiences with relationships before and this was the best thing she has ever had. She texted Cisco almost every day and sometimes they talked longer.

Cisco went to the console and unlocked the door just before Mick used his heat gun to melt it down and tried to help Barry back into bed to take his mind off of the fact that Lisa was coming up and she was probably pissed.

They didn’t even pay attention to the cameras to watch them come in, instead they went back to concentrate on their experiment form before. Caitlin got ready with iv bags and she put in a canula into Barry’s arm to make it easier for later.

“Damn it, Cisco! You build a freaking hospital here and can’t even take the phone when I need help?” Lisa said instead of greeting and Caitlin looked at Cisco with a face that made it clear that she absolutely did not approve the way he treated her.

“It’s complicated, okay?” Cisco held up his hands in surrender. “It’s a meta virus and it’s dangerous…”

“Meta virus?” Lisa looked taken aback.

“Yeah, it only attacks metas…” Barry said weakly then he whimpered in pain. His fever was about to go down and he felt like burning up.

“That’s impossible…” Lisa shook her head and stepped back a few steps. She didn’t even have the energy to be shocked by seeing the Flash, because who else would it be, there half naked and sick, a meta.

They soon understood why she was so shocked. Mick arrived at the cortex with a half conscious Snart hanging off his shoulder and mumbling about something.

Barry sat up suddenly surprised, but he regretted it immediately and fell back on his bed whimpering and struggling in pain. He forced himself up on his forearms to be able to pay attention.

“He’s been sick for days, but he said he doesn’t need help… he didn’t want to come here but he’s in a really bad shape as you can see… please, we need your help…” Lisa’s eyes were teary and she was obviously scared.

“Let me examine him a bit.” Caitlin said softly. “Wally would you please bring another bed here?” She turned to the young man. Wally nodded and quickly went to do that.

“Why should we help him?” Joe asked, voice filled with venom and Iris stood next to him.

“Because we usually help people and if you want an emotionless answer we can’t let him walk around infecting other metas!” Barry said angrily. He didn’t even think about not helping him. “He went with the legends, he saved the world and he helped us several times, stop holding everything over him!” His anger prevented him from having enough control over his vibrations. About every third word he said was distorted. It sounded kind of scary and Lisa stepped back closer to his brother on instinct even though she knew it was in their protection.

“Fine. Let me know when he left.” Joe answered and walked out. Iris followed him, and they grabbed Wally too who just arrived with the hospital bed.

“Sorry about that…” Barry apologized and tried to change his position to face them better, but he just fell back and whimpered again. He was calmer but his voice was still a bit shaky, certainly less scary though. “Cait… we need to try it…”

Mick gently helped Len up over the new bed and Barry suddenly felt jealous. He wasn’t sure of what though, maybe Mick’s gentleness but maybe that he could hold Snart so close without him fliching away. Barry mentally shook his head because physically he didn’t have the strength, since when did he want to hold Snart in his arms? He blamed it on the fever.

“His temperature keeps dropping between fever fits…” Lisa said worriedly and she froze when he saw how everyone paled at that. “What?” she looked at them each, needing to know the answer.

“Answer her damnit!” Mick growled when they stayed quiet.

“It’s… one man died already and his fever dropped about twenty-four hours before…” Barry croaked out. “There’s a teenage girl… we don’t have time, Caitlin! Please!”

Lisa looked at her and she seemed even more tired and stressed than she expected.

“She has some kind of medicine that can kill these viruses but also destroys blood cells. We were about to try it in a small those on Barry before you arrived. Caitlin is scared that it would hurt or kill him, but he’s right, we don’t have time. If we do nothing a teenage girl is going to die tomorrow.” Cisco explained quickly at Lisa’s lost expression.

Mick carefully walked to Caitlin who was frozen in place. It was one thing to fight for the life of a seriously injured patient but to give him something that might kill him painfully and even faster than this virus, was something completely different. Mick put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side in a warm almost hug.

“Come on, Doll, you can do this. Give Barry that shit and examine Lenny while it takes effect.” He said calmly and slowly lead Caitlin forward. She took a deep breath she was glad for the warmth, and having instructions gave some stability and she finally managed to pull herself back together. She shuddered to shake off her former semi-breakdown.

“Let’s do this!” She nodded confidently and went to Barry. She took the syringe again and pushed its content into Barry’s cannula, then she put in the iv.

She then went to Len’s bed and asked Mick to help her take off some of his clothes. She first examined him physically, trying to ignore his old scars. He was in a really bad shape. He was weak, pale and skinnier than she expected, there were muscles, but the softness of his age was missing. She wanted to recheck his birth date because in that meaning he didn’t look bad. Then she checked the red lines and rashes on his wrists. They were big and even more defined than Barry’s, they were probably in the burning painful phase. He was mumbling about pain and heat and cold and begging to be left alone. He was quite warm, but he started to cool down.

“His temperature is dropping…” Caitlin said surprised.

“It drops every now and then…” Mick said helpfully. “Then it goes right back up.”

Caitlin hummed and nodded. Then Barry groaned in pain.

Barry felt like he was choking, and it burned right in his blood vessels carrying the pain everywhere. He struggled but it only got worse. Caitlin quickly went to him and increased the speed if the iv.

She went back to Snart and took his blood too to examine. Then she went to her equipment to check out Barry’s blood.

“Cisco, take the personalized fever pills and give them to the patients.” She said because it was time, but she didn’t have time right now. “If anyone feels worse or better or anyone’s temperature drops I want to know about it.” she was finally back to her strong self.

“Hey, Cisco, I’ll help you!” Lisa quickly helped him grab the boxes with the pills, they all had names or nicknames written on them. She needed to do something to distract herself and she wanted to do that something with Cisco.

They went to check on the patients. Mick stayed to help Caitlin with the two sick man, he was trying to keep Snart in his bed because even against the pain he wanted to get up.

“If you don’t stay in that bed I’m gonna tie you to it!” Mick growled at him and he finally obeyed.

Mick went to Barry’s bed because the young hero was struggling harder and more violently by every minute. He carefully held him down to prevent him from falling off the bed.

Caitlin’s phone rang again, from the hospital where they were looking for her to start the dissection.

“I’m sorry things have escalated here a bit, I don’t have time to go there.”

“We’re gonna need video connection.”

“Yes, I know his rights but we’re talking about thirty-seven lives.”

“Yes… yes… okay, I’m on it.”

She hung up the phone and started typing away on one of the computers. About ten minutes later they had the video feed up on the big screen. the video connection was one way, but they could hear Caitlin.

Caitlin was multitasking on an insane level. She watched the feed and sometimes commented or asked while she changed Barry’s iv, checked on Leonard again, checked Leonard’s blood, started making personalized pills for his fever, started the PCR on Barry’s blood and navigated Mick around so he could help.

The direct cause of death turned out to be hypoxia caused heart attack and brain damage, because his temperature was running so high, the sensitive proteins in his cells denaturated, so the virus couldn’t use them any longer so the viruses also fell apart making his plasma osmotically active just like in Caitlin’s experiments destroying his RBCs and his endothel cells and basically turning his blood into a thick mess of cell debris. Caitlin thanked the doctors and disconnected.

With Mick’s help Barry forced himself to calm down and try to endure the pain.

Caitlin kept examining the bloods and created a mixture of dissolved agents that should work on Leonard. She just injected it in when Cisco and Lisa arrived back.

“What did you find?” Caitlin asked them while she kept mixing samples in tiny cuvettes.

“Well, everyone easily agreed to take their medication…” Lisa smiled positively. She was happy to spend time with Cisco.

“But other than that, it’s a mess… Amy keeps rewinding time and she feels like going crazy, others also keep losing control over their powers and it’s really chaotic there… luckily the dampeners in the pipeline work well on the more dangerous powers so its peaceful down there.” Cisco explained.

“She rewinds time?” Lisa blinked at Cisco, she didn’t notice anything more than a strange deja vu feeling in her room. “How do you know she did it?”

“I kinda vibed her… we spent almost fifteen minutes with her… she feels like she’s going crazy repeating the same few minutes all the time…” Cisco explained.

“I see… and Mr. Devenau, the levitating guy, is in a really bad shape… his temperature felt normal to me and he says he was cold a few hours ago…” Lisa added sadly. She was sad about all these sick people and that they didn’t know how to help. She was worried about her brother before, but right now it almost physically hurt. She didn’t even want to imagine what Lenny must have felt when Lewis threatened to blow her head off.

“Okay… Cisco I think you should work on the dampener cuffs and make them a bracelet or something that would help suppressing their powers, so they won’t harm themselves.” Caitlin said.

“Oh, and Amy’s parents thought the lack of fever meant their daughter was gonna be okay until Lisa told them the truth…” Cisco said a bit grumpy about it. He wanted to keep it secret from them.

“I’m not gonna lie to them when their daughter is dying!” Lisa snapped at him. “I was being as gentle as possible with the truth and they took it well… They’re staying with her.”

“But we’re working on the cure, they don’t have to think their daughter is going to die when there is a chance she won’t!” Cisco raised his voice too. The pain on their faces hurt him and he could vibe their devastation.

“I’m sorry Cisco but I have to agree with Lisa on this.” Caitlin interrupted their little fight. “They need to know the truth. I just couldn’t tell them right after the other man died so thank you, Lisa, for doing the hard part.”

“Sure thing.” Lisa smiled sweetly and proudly.

A few minutes later Iris walked in with six coffees and a bag.

“Hello everyone!” She smiled apologetically “Sorry about my father, he’s really worried about Barry and he has a long history with Snart. He’s too stressed out right now to deal with conflicts like that, but he’ll come around.”

She gave everyone their coffees. She brought Barry a Flash – at which Mick snorted -, Caitlin a latte with three pressos, Lisa a spiced latte she knew she liked from Cisco, Cisco a mocha, and Mick a simple black coffee.

“I’m sorry I don’t know how you drink your coffee…” She apologized. “But I brought sugar and cream, so you can adjust it…” She showed him the huge amount she brought. There were also muffins in that bag one of which Mick took instead of any sugar or cream.

“Just the coffee for me.” He grinned and started eating the muffin.

Iris smiled and drank some of her own coffee.

“This is lifesaving…” Caitlin sighed after a few gulps and returned to her work. The PCR just finished, and she started examining it.

 When they all drank their coffees and ate their muffins Iris left, promising to come by later. Cisco and Lisa went to work on power dampening bracelets.

Barry screamed into his pillow, because he forced himself to hold back his pain while Iris was there, but it was getting too much. He struggled and vibrated and he was grateful for Mick who went to his bed and helped him stay on it.

After about an hour later and three additional ivs Barry finally stopped struggling in pain. The lot a of water though meant his kidneys worked hard too and he had to pee about every two minutes now.

Caitlin’s mix for Leonard also took effect and he was being coherent again.

“Where am I?” Snart asked quietly, too sore to move enough to look around, voice quite harsh from soreness.

“At STAR labs.” Caitlin answered and went to check on him. She put up a bunch of pads on his chest and attached the ECG machine. She examined the results and nodded in approval. She put an oximeter on his finger, she checked his rashes and his throat.

“How…?” He could barely speak from the pain in his throat.

“We brought you here, buddy…” Mick stepped to his bed to take care of the rest of the conversation so Cait could work.

There were several mixtures on her working desk, that were reacting though nothing visible happened. She took more of Barry’s blood and went back to work.

“Everything hurts… why is it so cold in here?” He was shivering. It was a rare occurrence.

“It’s probably just your fever trying to go up.” Barry said weakly though he wanted to sound reassuring.

“Barry…” Snart mumbled quietly. “Am I dreaming?” He felt so weird.

“No, thank god you’re finally awake.” Barry smiled.

“Why does it hurt so much?” His voice was so weak and pained Barry wanted to just hug him and take away his pain.

“It’s a virus. A meta virus to be exact.”

“But I’m not aaaah…” He arched up from the bed and yelled in pain. Then he fell back on it unconscious.

“Snart?” Barry asked weakly trying to move, but he couldn’t, especially not after the past hours of suffering that completely tired him out.

“Snart, buddy!” Mick jumped to his bed and grabbed him to shake and try to wake him up.

Caitlin also hurried there to check his vitals. She only had time to check his pulse and breathing before a thin ice dome started to build itself around him. About a minute later it was completely separating him from the world.

“Shit.” Mick was the only one who found his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel a little bit like I’m rushing through things that I wanted to detail more but that’s maybe just the short chapters... I don’t know... What do you think? Does it feel a bit rushed?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The threesome...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait I meant to post it yesterday but I had a headache so strong I couldn’t read...  
> Also I have less than I thought written...(there’s a part I thought I wrote I’m down but I only thought about it...)   
> I only have this and 80% of the next but I’m working on it almost every free minute I have.

 

In the meantime, Lisa and Cisco were at Cisco’s room where he usually tinkered on his knew ideas. He showed and explained Lisa the dampener cuffs and how they worked. She was a surprisingly easy learner and she always asked the right questions that showed Cisco she understood what he just said. It was one of the sexiest things Cisco could imagine.

They started working on the cuffs, and they spiced their work wit a few kisses. It soon turned into more kissing and less actual working.

In the beginning Cisco sat at his table and worked on the cuffs while Lisa acted like his assistant and gave him the tools he needed, but soon enough Lisa was sitting on Cisco’s lap and he just explained his ideas instead of trying them. She had her own ideas too but Cisco found the usefulness of her ideas way too sexy to actually work on them. They were actually useful though and he told her that. Some of them he even wrote down to think through and work on later but not right then with the cuffs.

The exchange of ideas and kisses turned them on so much that soon they were just kissing without talking, or practically breathing to be honest.

At some point they got from the working chair to the soft couch Cisco also had stashed in there for when he was too tired to go home to sleep. The whole room was like a mini apartment of a single teenage boy. It was a bit ridiculous but Lisa couldn’t feel anything but fondness over it.

Lisa pushed Cisco on his back and climbed over him. She kissed him passionately and started to undress him. The outer world was completely lost to them by then. Perfect escape from the seriousness and stress of reality.She kissed his neck and kissed and licked around his chest. She took her time playing with his nipples and Cisco was moaning loudly just from that. She knew what she was doing and she did her best to show it to Cisco. She wanted to convince him and win him over.

When Cisco’s pants got off Lisa pulled back a bit and sat up to slowly start and undress herself too. She never took her eyes off Cisco and she noticed with a mischievous grin that Cisco hardened just from the sight of her undressing.

She left her underwear on and leaned back to lick at Cisco’s cock playfully. She took most of his half hard length into her mouth and smiled inside when Cisco had to grab the cushions to stop himself from pushing his hips up. She sucked on him slowly until he got fully hard and started panting.

Cisco ran his fingers through Lisa’s soft long hair and gently lead her up for another kiss. She went happily and let her weight on Cisco and his cock slipped between her legs. She shuddered when she felt Cisco’s pubic hairs through the thin layer of her panties.

Cisco only had the patience for a few minutes of kissing before he carefully changed their position to put Lisa on her back. He looked her over adoringly.

“Wow, you’re truly beautiful...” he sighed with a smile and leaned in to give her the same treatment he received before. He pulled her bra down so he could lick her nipples then he pulled down her panties to start playfully licking her clit. Soon enough he could feel her getting wet and dripping so he licked lower and pushed his tongue inside her.

Lisa gasped and pulled her legs up and open to give him more room to work. This was new to her, to be pleasured by a boyfriend. In the beginning she felt really vulnerable and ashamed when Cisco licked at her intimate parts, but then Cisco assured her that she tasted really good. He often played with her and complimented her to build up her comfort and confidence. It worked over time and now she only felt trust and pleasure. She easily opened up and moaned.

Cisco took it as the invitation it was and started using his fingers in her, while his lips and tongue went back to work on her clit. He played with her until she was coming, then he kept teasing her until he decided that she was excited and wet enough to get to some even more pleasurable business.

Cisco pulled up and kissed along her stomach and chest until he got back to her lips.

“Wanna come again or wanna go on?” He asked with a pleased sigh. He was good with either. Lisa actually did taste great and her sounds of orgasm were delicious to his ears. He rarely got to take her to bed even wen they were kind of together, because she wasn’t always so open. He wanted to enjoy every second and wanted her to feel good too. He worked on making her feel comfortable and beautiful for a long time and he hoped he did a good job. The way Lisa relaxed and made it easy for his fingers to penetrate told him that at least right now she felt safe.

“Wanna feel you in me...” Lisa gasped taking control again and a second later Cisco was back under her. She got a condom - as it appeared to Cisco - from the thin air and rolled it on him. She had a lot of small tricks that always surprised Cisco. And she could do any of them under any kind of circumstances.

She grabbed his cock and lead it between her legs. She rubbed it against herself enjoying the feel of it with her most sensitive parts then she slowly started to lower herself on it.

Cisco forced himself to stay still and give her as much time as she needed. When she was fully seated on him he pulled her into another sweet kiss and they just enjoyed the feel of each other for long minutes.

Lisa started to slowly move her hips a tiny bit so her clit rubbed against Cisco’s pubic hair making her shudder and drip. She started to move when she was getting close to her next high and Cisco moved with her.

“Feels so good...” Lisa sighed and started moving faster, riding Cisco properly.

“Holy...” Cisco gasped and arched. She was tight and slick and so warm. It felt perfect.

They came together not a full minute later.

Lisa giggled and snuggled in between Cisco and the backrest. She slipped off the condom and tied it with a smooth movement before pushing it back into its original package and throwing it into the bin with perfect aim, even from her comfy snuggled position.

The next second a portal opened right next to them and Gypsy stepped out of it. Lisa sat up immediately, trying to hide herself and her scars, while Cisco tensed and blushed.

“So that’s your idea of commitment?” Gypsy asked, masked but obvious hurt in her voice and she crossed her arms.

“You keep disappearing!” Cisco said with as much anger as he could master after an orgasm like that. He sat up too and pulled Lisa close, helping her hide her parts she was insecure about. Right now he could only take her side with all his hormones and emotions so high. He wanted to protect her this time.

“She’s Lisa right? The girl who betrayed your team? Then came back for your help?!” Gypsy stepped closer curious about the girl who stood in the way of Cisco fully being hers. She had her reasons for acting as she did. She’s been hurt before and she couldn’t be fully into it until she knew her competition was ruled out. Lisa was obviously still in the picture, actually more than her even.

“That’s me. Nice to meet you.” Lisa’s smile was devious as she held out a hand obviously aware of their situation. She was the one naked half on Cisco, being hugged by him. Gypsy started to like her.

“I’m Gypsy.” She took her hand and vibed her. Violent abusive father, only one truly important person in her life; her brother, one true friend of his, she was smart, the bomb in her neck and the only thought next to fear was Cisco. She honestly loved Cisco. That, even though she didn’t like, Gypsy could appreciate. “I think we need to talk.” Gypsy smiled just as deviously side-eying Cisco and messaging Lisa that she had an idea. Lisa caught up quickly.

“Cisco dear,” Lisa gave a kiss to his cheek. “I think you should try your prototype bracelet on Amy...”

“Amy?” Gypsy blinked. She hadn’t heard that name before.

“The first meta infected... We have a bit of a situation here actually.” Cisco sobered up quickly. “There’s a virus attacking metas only and Barry is also sick. They can’t control their powers because of the symptoms and all... we’ve been working on modifying the dampener cuffs a bit before...” he cleared his throat and stood up to take his clothes.

Gypsy pulled him into a deep kiss, before she let him go on and do what he had to.

When Cisco finally left the two women turned to each other.

“What do you have in mind?” Lisa asked curiously hiding her upper body behind her t-shirt.

“You don’t have to hide those scars from me.” Gypsy started. “I already saw them when I vibed you and...” she took off her leather jacket and her own t-shirt, revealing a collection of scars that rivaled Lenny’s. “I have some too...”

Lisa’s grip loosened on her t-shirt but she wasn’t ready to show herself openly. While she didn’t know the exact origin of Gypsy’s scars she guessed they were from training and fighting. Most of her scars were from abuse and helplessness. She was often told that those scars just proved what she survived but they only reminded her of the terror. Maybe it happened in the past, but it still haunted her in her nightmares. They were reminders of her then weakness.

“You vibed me?” Lisa blinked and Gypsy sat down next to her.

“I needed to know if you were serious about him.” She sat down on the couch next to Lisa, quite close.

“I am.” Lisa straightened up. Having confidence with that one.

“I know.” Gypsy smiled and leaned in to kiss Lisa. “Me too.”

“You mean Cisco three and it could work?” Lisa asked surprised when the kiss was broken.

“Yes.” Gypsy smiled and pulled Lisa in a hug. She was still a bit sweaty but sweet. She tasted half like Cisco but now Gypsy had an idea why Cisco loved her, especially combined with what she saw before. She knew what she wanted and it was Cisco and if the price of being with Cisco was to be with Lisa too... Well, that wasn’t exactly a price, more like some additional pleasure.

“I’m not exactly sure how Cisco’s powers work but from what I saw, you can do the same except you have better control over it right?” Lisa asked as she leant into her and they cuddled up comfortably.

“Yes.” Gypsy smiled proudly.

“You can help me find people?” Lisa asked mischievously. She could finally be more well-informed than Lenny.

“Sure.” Gypsy smirked and kissed Lisa again. She was still trying to get a taste of this to decide whether this was a good idea, but it definitely seemed to be.

Lisa pulled her panties back up and righted her bra. Gypsy’s arms were warm enough and now she felt safe enough to stay as she was in her underwear. They talked more to get to know each other a bit more until Cisco came back.

Cisco took the bracelet and went straight to Amy’s room she seemed nervous, annoyed, and scared at the same time. He quickly explained what the bracelet was for and she thankfully agreed to try and use it, but Cisco could tell that he told her several times, and he spent almost twenty minutes in her room trying to get it on her. Her powers only worked on her close surroundings and he was getting nervous about what the girls were doing. At least the bracelet worked and even though her temperature was rising continuously and she was close to normal temperature now she was infinitely relieved that her surroundings weren’t on a constant loop of the same few minutes.

He promised to make more bracelets to the other metas but there was also a man who wanted the cuffs as they were and just get them as fast as possible. Because of that he had to take another turn at the storage where he kept the dampener cuffs and took a few with matching keys and took them back to the metas. He offered them the cuffs, with the keys of course, and some of them accepted. For them it was still better than their powers out of control.Lynette with the luminous hands for example had a hard time sleeping with her hands lighting up her room.

Then he finally headed back to his room, very nervous about what he would find. When he stepped in he was shocked at what he saw. It was the furthest possible from any of what he expected. He found the two women he loved in each other’s arms. He loved them both and he wanted them both and that’s why he couldn’t just choose. He couldn’t just let one of them go.

“Hey Cisco!” Lisa giggled at his shock. She was wearing her underwear properly now, but nothing else. Her legs were thrown over Gypsy’s lap and she side leaned against her.

“Hi...” Cisco’s voice was high pitched by shock.

Gypsy wasn’t wearing a shirt either.

The girls stood up and walked to Cisco, trapping him against the door.

“We know what we want.” Gypsy started.

“The question is; are you in?” Lisa finished.

“In? You can’t make me choose...” Cisco forced out through his shock. Especially not when they were both there almost naked and so beautiful and sexy.

“No, honey, be a bit more...” Lisa was thinking about the right word but Gypsy finished it for her.

“...open-minded.”

Both girls were leaning against Cisco who just blinked for several seconds before he understood.

“I’m the luckiest guy in the multiverse!” He sighed with a happy grin and pulled both girls into a hug. They will have to talk a lot, because he had to make sure they knew he didn’t mean the hurtful things he’d done. He wanted to apologize to them for all those things after which Caitlin was glaring at him. But right now he was happy that he had everything he wanted in the multiverse.

Gypsy and Lisa dressed up quickly and they went back to the Cortex.

“It’s working!” Caitlin yelled at the very moment Cisco, Lisa and Gypsy stepped into the Cortex.

Barry was still weak on his bed but smiled and readied himself knowing that Caitlin’s next step would be to try it on him.

“Hi, Gypsy...” He greeted weakly. Caitlin nodded at her, still way too preoccupied with her findings to care when Gypsy arrived. Mick was a bit confused but didn’t really care, because Lisa seemed happy.

Snart was still hidden inside an ice case though Mick was trying to get through it, now with a chair in his frustration.

“What happened in here?” Cisco blinked around.

Caitlin’s desk was a mess of experiments and samples and the whole area was a mess from Mick’s continuous fight against the ice capsule.

“What happened to Lenny?” Lisa went to her brother’s bed and needed a second to realize he was under the ice.

“Your brother’s a meta?” Gypsy asked walking up next to Lisa.

“No. I mean we... we didn’t know before... he didn’t have any powers before...” Lisa said quietly.

“They probably haven’t manifested before. He has the meta gene but it was inactive until the virus connected to it and by activating itself it also activated the gene in his cells.” Caitlin explained while she recreated a solution and pulled it into a syringe. “I’m afraid I don’t know what will happen to him. The virus made people lose control over their powers, but he never had control... it’s a dangerous mess.” She finished sadly but went to Barry and injected him with what she created.

At first nothing happened but then Barry groaned in pain. His whole body vibrated and he gasped. He relaxed and slowed back, then started vibrating again several times before he finally settled down and sighed with relief.

Barry finally felt normal if a bit drained still. He sat up carefully but there was no pain or dizziness following. More precisely not more than his tiredness and blood loss explained. The weird uncertain sensation of his fever headache was missing. His throat felt much better and he finally felt hungry.

“It worked, I think.” He smiled up at Cait.

“Great! Then I need more blood!” She said and went for her kit. It was kind of exciting to have results so fast. If the cure was effective the other patients would probably still need a week for it to take full effect.

Barry felt sick of being poked all the time and this time it wasn’t just one tube, she took a full bag of blood from him.

“I’m gonna need to isolate the antibodies from your blood then clean them and create a solution for the others.” Caitlin explained when Barry stared at his blood for too long. She didn’t know yet if she could create the same antibodies or she would have to take even more blood later but she didn’t tell that to Barry.

“I’m gonna need food because I won’t have enough blood for you with this pace...” Barry grinned and he could see that it also relieved Caitlin a bit.

“I’ll place an order of a hundred pizzas then.” She chuckled happily. “In the meantime try to rest a bit and help Mick getting Snart out of that thing. We’ll need to inject him but we can’t get through the ice.”

“Lenny...” Lisa whispered. She was worried and helpless. She hated it. Then Gypsy pulled her into a side hug and Cisco joined on her other side and she realized she wasn’t alone. “Thanks.” She relaxed into their arms. There were so many emotions battling in her like never before. She let her eyes fill with tears but didn’t let them spill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I’m thinking about adding some Mick/Caitlin but maybe I’ll just have them as so close friends they don’t want to ruin with a relationship...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get to Len

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mick is fun to write

There was a bit of calmness for a while as they waited for the machines to work, chemicals to take effect and just rest and think. Their pizzas arrived a while later and they gave out some of them for the metas, then they ate themselves most of the rest. There was still a lot left because Caitlin ordered on her phone while she concentrated on her experiments and accidentally ordered a thousand instead of a hundred. Just one zero and a crazy lot of complications. The company didn’t question it because they ordered it to STAR labs which is a giant facility and they just guessed they invited back the old employees or something.

The good part was that with giving them out to the metas and their visiting families they made them happy and combined with Barry’s appetite -and Mick’s also who ate three - over three hundred pizzas were gone in the first hour. They cooled some of the rest for Barry for later and even left some close by as snacks.

Cisco was a little clumsy but tried to be polite and pulled out chairs to both Lisa and Gypsy. The girls though still held over him some of what he did. Gypsy vibed Lisa and knew how she felt and what it was like for her and she also remembered her own feelings. She became quite protective of Lisa really fast, and she decided that Cisco had to work to regain their complete trust. She pulled Lisa to her side as they ate and Cisco just tried to stay close to them but ended up on the other side of the desk they used as their table.

When they were done eating they started talking.The girls explained the others what was going on in their relationship and that they realized that what they wanted didn’t completely blocked the other. They were willing to try.

Mick seemed to listen really carefully. He took Len’s role as the protective big brother, because he knew his best friend would hate to have Lisa unprotected. This Gypsy girl though was hot as hell and she seemed to comfort Lisa easily, so for now he let it happen. He kept a close eye on Cisco though.

Barry was happy for them and he hoped his friend would stop making stupid and hurtful mistakes. He honestly wished them happiness.

When they were done eating and talking they turned back their attention to Len and the cure.

Lisa stood up and stepped forward towards Len and carefully touched the ice. Her eyes widened when the ice started to grow around her, and the only reason she didn’t get trapped under another ice dome was that Mick pulled her back away.

“W-What was that?” She blinked stepping even further, most of them were just surprised and stared at the ice pulling back. They had to think for a while to make sense of what just happened.

“I think he wants to protect you...” Barry gave thoughtfully.

“By trapping me?” She asked, that didn’t sound too protective.

“By shielding you.” Barry corrected. Though that would mean Len was currently trying to protect himself. Did he feel unsafe with them? Barry didn’t like the idea that Len was so scared of something that he would rather hide under an ice dome. He wanted him to feel safe and relaxed. He knew how he must have felt from this virus, and it was terrible enough on its own. Maybe it was the sickness that made him feel too vulnerable, but it was also possible that his powers worked on their own just trapping him. It was complicated and he just wanted Len out of that damn ice and safe.

“Do you think my gun could melt the ice?” Mick asked still thinking about how to get to his friend.

“I think the ice would just harden... maybe freezing towards the inside and I’m already not sure if he has enough air in there...” Caitlin shared her own thoughts. She was also in doubt about the reason behind the creation of this dome. She was pretty sure her medication should work, but it was always possible she made a mistake. She wanted to take some samples and make sure he was okay, but she had no idea how to get to him.

“Do you think it’s possible for me to phase through the ice?” Barry sat up watching the ice dome.

“That depends on how cold the ice is and whether he can make it colder while you’re going through...” Cisco added walking to grab his thermometer. “It might just breaks... but it’s also possible that your body parts break off...” He checked the temperature of the ice. It was -10 degrees, but as he poked at it with the end of the thermometer it cooled down to -15 degrees.

“Bad idea, got it.” Barry nodded after the shudders at the thought went down.

“Still think we should try my gun...” Mick murmured.

“Be really careful!” Barry said quickly, because Mick already grabbed his gun, walked closer to the ice dome and aimed.

“Not an idiot, kid.” He grumbled and aimed his gun towards Len’s legs, slightly upwards so he would only shoot the ice. Not pointing his gun towards Len even through the dome.

Despite Caitlin’s and Cisco’s protesting he fired his gun. Some of the ice melted and leaked down to the floor. There was also a bit of steam and they could see a hole for a second on the dome. But right when they could be happy about it a spike of ice came out and caught the heat gun with itself, ripping it out of Mick’s hands, and shoved and froze it to the ceiling. Then the dome just repaired itself.

“Didn’t work.” Mick shrugged and went to grab a chisel and a hammer.

Barry facepalmed and tried really hard not to laugh. He was relieved Len wasn’t injured by it, and also found funny Mick’s ‘whatever Itried’ attitude. It was ridiculous how easily he accepted what happened, he didn’t try to explain it or find a reason behind it like them as scientists. No, he just saw it and got it, moved on. He started trying to chisel out a hole in the ice but soon the ice cooled his tools and he had to drop them to prevent them from freezing to his hands and ripping skin. “Damn it...” he groaned and started grumpily looking for another weapon.

“Maybe I could vibrate with a frequency that breaks the ice...” Barry said and carefully stood up to walk to the dome. He was better now, but he was still a bit unstable on his feet and he felt like he could fall or feel sick at any time. He felt fine but it still felt like a passing state. When he stood he vibrated his body and he felt a bit dizzy. He carefully sat back on his bed. “Well maybe after another meal...”

Cisco brought him a pizza just when Mick walked back to the cortex with a welding machine. Barry just blinked and Cisco’s jaw dropped. 

“Where the hell did you get that?!” Cisco squeaked.

Mick just shrugged. “Found in a room...”

“I’m pretty sure it was locked...” Cisco added.

“What’s your point?” Mick raised an eyebrow at him while he powered up the machine. He tried to cut out a piece using the heat but as he melted a line by the time he could reach his starting point it froze back. “Damnit!”

Barry finished his second pizza and went next to Mick. He touched the ice with his hand and tied to vibrate it to find the right frequency. When he seemed to find it the ice cooled even more and his hand hurt from the cold. He pulled it back. He vibrated his other hand and with a very high frequency he slammed his fist into the ice dome. There appeared some deep cracks in it, but it froze right back.

There was a small whimpering sound from under the ice and Barry’s eyes widened.

“I think we should stop. He’s trying to protect himself and we keep attacking him...” he felt sick at the thought.

“Lenny...” Lisa whispered scared. She felt helpless and terrified and she didn’t know what she would do if she didn’t have Gypsy at her side. She hated the feeling. She couldn’t really say it but she needed to do something or concentrate on something else.

“What about that cure you have?” Gypsy turned to Caitlin. Knowing how Lisa felt and wanting to help her by changing the topic to something more positive.

“Well, now we have some antibodies from Barry’s blood. I think we should clean them and combine them with the lighter solution of the agent that induced Barry’s immune system to produce the antibodies. I already tried and the agent doesn’t attack the antibodies. We’re going to need a lot of IVs and maybe the patients would need catheters. Their kidneys will work really hard so we need to make sure none of their kidneys are damaged.” Caitlin started and there was still a mess in her head. She needed to create an order. She took a deep breath to calm herself and gladly noticed that Mick was back at her side with a giant warm hand on her shoulder. She felt calmer and stable. She smiled and went on. “Alright, first of all I’m gonna need blood from every single patient. Can any of you draw blood in a simple red tube?”

“I can.” Gypsy said. “Guessing it’s a similar technique to what we use on my earth.”

“Well the point is to get the blood into those vacuumed tubes.” Caitlin pointed at a box of tubes on the table. “ The way you make it happen doesn’t really matter.”

“Then I can.” Gypsy smiled.

“Good. Next Cisco you’ll need to order a lot more bags of IV fluids Ringer lactate mostly and some glucose both 5 and 10 % so I can calculate. It’s urgent and I need inventory control and a list of what we have. When you take the blood please check everyone’s cannulas to see if they work.”

Gypsy nodded.

“They all going to receive a bag of Ringer then we’re going to inject the antibodies and themedicine into IV bags and let them in with a low drop count.”

Everyone nodded.

“Lisa please ask everyone whether they want a catheter or they want to go to the bathroom about every few minutes... I’ll also need urine samples every few hours, starting before we give them anything at all.”

Lisa smiled and stepped next to Gypsy with her own nod.

“Barry you can help me clean the antibodies.”

“Sure thing!” Barry smiled. He wouldn’t be able to do much physical work yet, which annoyed him like crazy, but at least this way he could help.

“I’m gonna need another coffee...” Caitlin sighed as she relaxed a bit and tried to clear her head to remember if she had done everything immediately necessary.

“And some rest, Doll.” Mick lead her to a chair and sat her down.

“Maybe but...” Caitlin sat down and protested immediately.

“No buts.” Mick said. “I can stick in a damn cannula and give IVs. There’s gonna be at least an hour as they drop down. Flash can check the blood samples with the machines and he can make the antibody mixes. It will take time. You will sleep and if anything happens we can’t handle we’ll wake you. If not, we’ll wake you when you can give your patients the cure.” He carefully massaged Caitlin’s shoulders as he spoke, and just from that she was almost asleep by the end of his monologue. “I’ll even bring coffee to wake you.”

“He’s right, Caitlin.” Barry smiled when she looked at him.

“Alright.” She smiled and Mick lead her to the medbay and she was practically asleep by the time she got into a horizontal position.

Mick carefully pulled her shoes off and laid a blanket over her before he walked back out to the others.

“Let’s not disappoint her!” He rumbled and grabbed a box of rubber gloves, a box of syringes and a bag of IV fluids.

Gypsy followed his lead packing the things she would need. She packed up rubber gloves though a few sizes smaller than Mick did. She grabbed the tubes and the name etiquettes of the patients. The rubber squeezer, some disinfectant and a few clean clothes.

It turned out quite a big pack so she used a service cart to carry everything.

Lisa went forward to ask the patients about the catheters and check if they could actually walk to the toilet if they didn’t want the tube down there. She also gave out the urine tubes and asked them to give samples.

Cisco also got to work on the orders of about ten IVs per patient. He was quickly done with it and went to check what they have and create the required list. This would took a lot longer than just choosing the right bags and typing in a number. Calculating the number with ten didn’t exactly take time...

Barry quickly ate another pizza before stretching and speed reading through Caitlin’s notes. He quickly understood what path she followed based on her experiences. He checked the machines and his own blood to understand the chemical behavior of the antibodies and the agent Caitlin used on him.

He quickly got to work on cleaning them, mixing and diluting. The harder part was to understand the patterns in the meta gene and it’s working to see if the patients needed individual modifications for the right effect.

First of all he concentrated on Amy because she was in the worst shape and she needed the cure first. He realized that she had to wear the power dampening bracelets the whole time because rewinding time in her body and surroundings could cause other mutations and more time for the virus to find a way to avoid the effect of their cure.

Then came the levitating guy because he was in the next worst state, if they didn’t count Len, but for him they had to figure out first how to get to him.

He worked fast, only limited by the speed of the machines.He put the name stickers onto the right bags and put them on different trails with their personalized medication and clean gloves and all, for everyone.

By the time the others arrived back he was in trouble finding more clean surface to put the trails on. Barry greeted them and asked them about their findings. He attached a paper to all the trails and wrote down their information on them.

There were only three people whose cannula didn’t work any longer and Mick changed them.

Gypsy barely put down the trail with the tubes when Barry grabbed Amy’s and started running the tests.

When Lisa arrived with the urine samples he quickly started to check those. He could be faster with them because for the blood he needed machines and they only had two, but for the urine he could use some old school chemical experiments.

He noted his findings to the patients’ trails accordingly. He changed the blood samples and listened to what the others said and wrote them all down to the right places. He worked faster than a normal human being could but now all the others were used to it. Maybe Lisa the least but after a little while she stopped staring.

When all the patients’ catheter and toilet requirements were listed she busied herself by kissing Gypsy’s neck. Her closeness comforted her and she wasn’t sure if it was just because she liked her or because Gypsy used her powers somehow. To be honest she didn’t really care because without the relief she provided she wasn’t sure she could get through this.

Then they started taking the trails to the right patients and explaining them that this was an attempt at a cure and that they could not say for sure that this would work. It did work for one other person. They didn’t tell them though that it was the Flash himself.

Cisco created a file for the patients to sign to avoid getting them or the helping other doctors in trouble.

They also talked to the helping doctors about the cure. They explained what they learned and though they all knew that one example wasn’t exactly a proven cure, they also understood that they didn’t have any other choices.

If they did nothing patients would certainly die. If they tried this they at least had a chance.

When all the IVs went down and all the patient signed their forms and agreed to the treatment Mick went out for coffee.

He returned with a stolen coffee machine and coffee beans. Lisa facepalmed, Gypsy blinked in surprise, Barry just giggled and Cisco was completely lost to how he should feel about it.

Mick put it together and made it work within ten minutes and after washing it through he started making coffee. The whole cortex smelled deliciously like coffee. When he was done he grabbed Caitlin’s coffee - that he asked Iris about how she liked - and went to wake her. 

He started by opening the door wide to let the scent of coffee in. He chuckled when Caitlin took a deep breath and turned in her sleep. He went to her bed and put down her coffee to let its specific smell hit Caitlin. Then he gently stoked her back with a warm hand.

“It’s time to save the day, Doll!” He couldn’t keep from smiling seeing her slowly waking.

“Mmh...” Caitlin wiped her eyes forgetting about her makeup. “What happened?” She started slowly sitting up with Mick’s help.

Mick first gave her her coffee. 

“Everything is going well.” He smiled at her. “All’s ready you just need to give them the magic and watch over the results.”

She smiled too and drank her coffee. She moaned at the taste. It was perfect. So perfect she completely forgot about herself and leaned comfortably to Mick’s warm side and drank her coffee with pleasure.

Mick gently wiped off her smudged makeup between her swigs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not sure about Mick/Caitlin...  
> Also I sat on this chapter for five days because I didn’t want to post until I start the next one... I have about one paragraph...  
> I’m working on it but Christmas is coming up and I’m quite busy...


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting the ‘cure’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry it took this long 😭😭 I swear I wanted to post this ages ago but I had such a hard time writing... it feel like I forced the words after each other and I’m still not convinced it’s not awful...  
> sorry for mistakes

When Caitlin finally woke up completely, she blushed at the whole situation. By the time she reached full alertness she was almost in Mick’s lap snuggling close and comfortable. She had no idea where her former fear went, but it was completely gone without any trace. She felt comfortable and safe with the older man.

“Let’s go help those guys!” Mick got up when he felt Caitlin’s body react signing she was fully awake.

“Y-Yeah... that’s a good idea, yes...” Caitlin blushed as they both got up to join the others.

Mick went forward to lead the way and Caitlin stayed back for a second and just stared at Mick’s back for a few seconds. She felt some sweet kind of warmth on the inside, she haven’t really felt before. She haven’t felt it when they last worked together and she felt nothing like this with Jay, when she thought she was falling for him. She felt something entirely different with Ronnie. That was beautiful and perfect. Nothing could bring that feeling back, but this was something nice. Nice enough that she wanted it to last.

But right now she had patients to take care of. She walked out to see all the others with their own coffees or the empty cups that formerly held the magic liquid. She saw the many files and notes and empty or half filled sample bottles. There was an organized mess in the whole cortex that she was used to from working with Barry quite often.

Cisco’s mess was a messy mess where sometimes not even he could find what he was looking for. He had the systems in his head, but his hands didn’t work accordingly when he placed his stuff. Caitlin hated to work in the same space as him, but luckily they both had their respective territories. As long as none of them crossed the line they could effectively and easily work together.

Barry was different. He always made a giant mess, but there was always a leading thread among the mess. Sometimes it was the actual organization of the items creating almost labyrinth like channels, but there was only one way to go. Sometimes it was colors, forms or ideas. Sometimes she found that he messily put stuff over the table in the exact order of their invention throughout history. That convinced her that Barry didn’t do this on purpose. It was either a strange subconscious habit of his or some kind of side effect of his time traveling powers.

She liked working with Barry. He could keep up with her and also let her think things through. She also enjoyed the challenge to find the leading thread in his organizing. This time though it seemed that he started with the most serious cases and then went on in alphabetical order of their nicknames. It was kind of boring, but right now quite helpful.

She went to Amy’s samples and papers, and read Barry’s findings and the results. It was nicely edited and contained just the most important information.

“Let’s get started!” She smiled and headed towards her patients. “Mick, Gypsy, please come with me, Lisa, Cisco you get the next iv bags ready, though I’ll let the medicine down real slow... I want everyone to be ready to help if someone reacts badly. Barry I want you to try and get to Leonard in the meantime and use the rest of his sample to try and get to know as much about his powers as possible.”

“Yeah, sure but if you need me just beep and I’ll be anywhere in a sec.” Barry smiled sweetly and walked to Leonard’s ice capsule hoping that if he was closer to the problem he could get closer to the solution.

“Shouldn’t I be the one trying to get to Lenny?” Lisa asked confused and a little hurt.

“Considering his reaction to your closeness I don’t think it’s a good idea. If you’re close all he cares about is you, but right now he needs to care about himself. “ Caitlin explained her thoughts behind the decision.

“You’re right...” Lisa sighed sadly.

“Sorry... “ Barry mumbled. “I promise I’ll take good care of him.” He smiled gently.

“Fine. Let’s go!” Lisa decided and went ahead, the others followed.

Barry turned his attention to Len. He put his hand gently on the ice. It was painfully cold, but he tried to hold on. He heard some quiet noises from under the dome.

“S-stop... cold... no... no more... I-I want... too cold... not enough... please...” It was quiet and weak but constant. He was mumbling and struggling weakly.

Barry couldn’t see Len through the thick ice but he could make out his figure and his movements. He moved continuously and Barry knew it was because of his fever. He knew he was in pain and he was freezing. He didn’t know if his powers did good or bad by keeping his temperature down. It protected him, but also interfered with his immune system.

He tried much gentler ways this time. He tried to turn on some air heaters and he tried to put electric warming blankets over the ice, while he checked the rest of his blood, but he could only do basic tests. As he suspected his results were quite off. His inflammatory protein levels were above the roof, but his white blood cells weren’t increased accordingly. They probably died by apoptosis because of the cold. 

In the meantime the others started at Amy. Caitlin explained again what was their plan and warned her about what side effects she should pay attention to and tell them immediately. They stayed with her for the first half hour and called Barry to test that her calling button worked well.

Then they went on patient to patient in the order of the seriousness of their state. they checked everyone’s calling buttons and took every data they could. They took their temperature, a bit of their blood, wrote down the color of their skin, whether their limbs were warm or cold and everything that came to mind.

Everything went well until it didn’t. They were down in the pipeline with a thirty-nine year old man and just gave him the medicine when he started convulsing. It barely took ten minutes after she started the IV. First he mentioned some blunt ache in his lower back and Caitlin immediately stopped the IV assuming kidney damage but she couldn’t stabilize his state. He started convulsing and he was clearly in pain. He said he felt like he was choking even though he could breath just fine and he felt dizzy. Soon he was throwing up and despite Caitlin’s best effort not even an hour later, he was dead.

Caitlin was shocked at the contrast. Most of the other patients didn’t feel a thing or even felt better after a few minutes. Then suddenly someone was dead. His wife was sobbing and crying over his body.

She was shocked and broken and practically falling apart in her deep grief. But despite all her agony she didn’t blame Caitlin.

For some reason it made Caitlin feel even worse. She couldn’t stand on her feet, and she was paler then the dead body on the bed. She almost fell but Mick caught her.

“We are truly sorry for your loss.” He said to the crying woman. “Take as much time as you need and if we can somehow help just tell us!”

He half carried Caitlin out and the others, who left the room earlier to be out of their way, joined them on their way up to the cortex. They weren’t all there but they all knew what happened. For a short while they would take a break from starting the treatments.

Barry was just quietly talking to Len in the cortex trying to calm him with his answers to his hazy nightmares. Then he was talking about his day and his latest hobbies because he didn’t know what to say and Len wasn’t really taking part in the conversation. He seemed calmer though after a while.

Barry only had to take one look up and he knew exactly what happened. He quickly cleaned the bed he formerly occupied and changed the sheets, so by the time Mick carried Caitlin to it, he could lay her on top of a freshly made bed.

“Who?” Barry asked quietly.

“The physics teacher.” Cisco said and Barry nodded.

“The others? How’s the treatment going.”

“Everything seemed to go well and almost all patients are now receiving the hopefully cure. I think there are two or three more patients left who haven’t got it yet.”

“I see. I’ll go check on them.” Barry said and flashed through the building finding everything fine except for the mourning woman. He left a glass of water on the small table next to the bed for her. “Things are going well with them, I think.”

He went and grabbed some sleeping pills for Caitlin deciding that if the guy died even with her best efforts, there’s nothing anyone can do. He gave her the pills so she could, and would, sleep a few more hours. They can come back to everything tomorrow. And until then they can change the IVs and check vitals.

In the end he sent to sleep everybody and stayed up saying he can dilute time while sleeping, so he needs a lot less time, but even if he didn’t, he can take the night shift now that he felt fine. He’d just needed energy from the pizzas and he would be fine. He found everything fine during the night. The treated patients complained about a lot less pain than what he remembered feeling. They said it was like a slow burning that increased, but not like exponentially or something, just like a little bit. Much slower than their fever worked itself up before.

He was glad they didn’t feel that much pain, because he was certain he will have nightmares about the cure for a while. The helplessness and vulnerability combined with the pain was something he rarely felt since the lightning, but associated with serious danger and loss. It was part of why he decided to take the first night. He didn’t dare to sleep yet, and he wanted to know if it had that same effect on the other metas. So, yes, he was happy it didn’t. He was also happy Len won’t experience the same pain as his memories are probably just as bad if not even worse.

He took a deep breath and checked the clock. It was nine am so he turned on the coffee machine and made coffees for everyone hoping he remembered well their likings. He ran out for some breakfast croissants and heated a few pizzas for himself.

At breakfast Barry explained Caitlin the night, though there wasn’t much to say. Everything went well, no-one complained about pain. The IVs went down smoothly and between bags the patients went to the bathroom. He had to let down the urine bags a few times for those who asked for the catheter. He wrote everyone’s in and out fluid amounts and asked them to first pee into measuring cups and he took samples to examine. They all seemed to react well to the treatment. He also took blood samples in the morning, but he haven’t gotten to them yet and Caitlin understood them better anyway.

Barry went to work while the others stayed at the lab. Captain Singh was very understanding about his moral duties as the owner of Star labs and let him take as much time as he needed to arrange everything and only asked him to go in when he could. Barry did just that and spent as much as he could at work and tried to be very efficient. He only stayed at the lab when he was sick and had a spectacularly hard time keeping it secret from his boss. The others laughed at his pathetic lies. He was glad Len or the Rogues didn’t hear them, that would have been even more embarrassing.

When he went back to the labs he found everything going well. They started the cure for the remaining patients and no one reacted as bad as that one man.

The only problem was they still had no idea how to get to Len. He was still murmuring about things to stop sometimes and he hasn’t been awake since he was brought there. They had no idea of the stage of his illness. According to Lisa he started showing the symptoms about a day or two after Amy. He was in a really bad shape already when he was brought in but for the other patients the fever was the most serious symptom and danger. Len’s case was completely different with his powers fighting the fever.

Barry sat on his former bed and ate pizzas one after the other needing the energy to stay awake for a little longer. He stared at the ice dome as he ate with changing intensity depending on the speed of his thoughts. Mick found it amusing while he followed Caitlin around asking questions and complimenting her every once in a while.

Lisa and Cisco were occupied by each other while Gypsy sometimes led their attention back to their project, which was making power dampening bracelets for those who were still wearing cuffs.

At one point Len murmured: “come in to my room Lise... y-you can hide there... quick...” and Barry suddenly had an idea. He speed ate himself through the rest of his pizza and grabbed a pair of bracelets, just for safety if his plan worked.

“What the...? dude, give a bit of warning!” Cisco yelled because there were tiny tiny things in front of him that rolled and flew around at the wind of Barry’s speed.

“Sorry, but I have an idea!” He said looking at Len only.

“Idea?” Lisa asked excited and all of them turned to him.

“Y-Yeah...” Barry blushed at all the attention.

Determined not to embarrass himself and honestly hoping to help Len, Barry stepped up to the dome. “Hey Len!” He called out not too loud but as loud as he thought would be enough to hear under the ice. No reaction came, but he could see Len’s dream wasn’t exactly pleasant. He knocked on the ice.

Len turned to the side and back still struggling in his dream. “W-Who is it?”

“It’s me, Barry. May I come in?” Barry asked keeping his excitement at bay, for now.

“S-sure...” Len’s voice was pretended nonchalance as he slightly blushed. Barry blushed too, but forced himself to blame Len’s fever for it.

The ice started to melt and soon Barry could reach Len. When most of the ice was gone Barry used his speed to quickly put the dampening bracelets on Len. He broke off the rest of the ice to melt on the ground.

Len gasped and shuddered. It took several moments, but then he started opening his eyes slowly. He looked confused and a bit scared, but he was fighting to keep his expression under control even now.

“Hey there frosty!” Barry smiled and carefully reached for Len’s forehead to check his temperature. “It’s okay... You’re safe here...” he said gently when he tried to pull away from his touch looking terrified for a second.

Barry didn’t get a chance to touch Len because the next second Lisa was all over her brother.

“Oh my god Lenny you scared us so much!” She hugged him tightly. She soon pulled back though. “Holy shit you’re freezing cold!”

“What...” Len mumbled but he barely had any voice and it hurt really bad to talk. He didn’t feel any energy in his body to move and he was freezing indeed. He tried to take in his surroundings, but he didn’t understand anything. He could see Barry Lisa and Mick so he was calmer that they were okay but it still explained nothing. He tried to think about what was the last thing he remembered, but it only made his head hurt. There was something about being sick at home and then dreaming about Barry, some pills and a lot of pain and nightmares. But he was so freaking cold.

“There’s a meta virus and you caught it.” Barry started to explain and took his hand gently into his warm ones. It felt nice and Len felt the corner of his lips twitch up a bit. “It causes a lot of pain and fever, but your power seems to be freezing things so it kept your temperature down. I put a power dampener on you.” Barry indicated the bracelets that he didn’t even feel before. “We’re trying to help you.”

“You’re so... warm..” Len croaked out. “Feels nice...” he mumbled and pulled closer to Barry as much as he could.

Barry helped him up a little and pulled him into a warm embrace. Fist of all because this way he could give some of his warmth to the other man, but second first because he really wanted to hug him for a while now. Len was indeed freezing cold.

“We need to slowly warm you up first of all then see if your fever goes up without your powers actively cooling you. I’m gonna need blood and urine samples and you’ll need to at least drink something. You’ve been under your ice dome for over a day. “ Caitlin started explaining while she gathered her tools for collecting samples. “I’m gonna need to examine you and then we’ll start the cure...”

“Caitlin!” Barry cuz into her words. “He just woke up, stop shocking him.”

“We can’t start the cure just like that...” Lisa started with teary eyes. “What if he reacts bad like the other guy?”

“Other guy?” Len blinked up at Barry.

“He died.” Barry said honestly. “This is a dangerous virus, it seems to be certain death if we do nothing. We have a kind of cure for it. It worked on me and it worked seems to work on every other patient except for one man. He died minutes after we gave him the IV.” Barry explained when he saw how scared Len was. He sometimes had to speak slower to make sure Len understood. There was this tiny frown on his face when he couldn’t keep up.

Barry carefully let go of Len and speed-changed his sheets, then he climbed onto the bed and cuddled Len gently.

Len only had time to let out half of a disappointed whimper before he was cuddled back to Barry’s warmth.

Lisa made tea with a ton of honey and they made Len drink it.

Caitlin took her samples and then they let him fall back asleep on Barry. They all agreed that Barry’s increased body temperature and heat production was the perfect way to slowly let Len warm up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I’ll be quicker with the next one but it depends on whether this stupid writers block goes away or stays for more even though it’s really not welcomed...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I think I’ll stick to short chapters on a regular basis this time so there will be a next in a few days tops... maybe if I get a lot of positive feedback it’ll be quicker... Sorry this is cheap begging for comments...  
> Hope you like it I have most of the outline but I’m still open to ideas! So share with me your beautiful thoughts!!!
> 
> (I’m posting from my phone again so there might be some mistakes grammatical or format)


End file.
